Inscriptions of Israel/Palestine Prinicipal Investigator Michael Satlow

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 zoor0272 Zoor 0272

Negev. Zoora. July 19, in the second half of fourth century CE. Tombstone. Epitaph.

Purple sandstone

48 30 5.5

Cross Above inscription Second half of fourth century CE, July 19 Negev Zoora An Naq cemetery

Found by local inhabitants in the northwest corner of the Bronze Age, Byzantine and Islamic cemetery in the An Naq neighborhood south of the Wadi al-Hasa, probably in secondary use in later graves.

Department of Antiquities of Jordan

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 Creation Adding Pleiades IDs to origin/placenames adding period attribute to date element, with Periodo value. Corrected encoding for letters height

+ + + ΜνημῖονΜνημεῖον Ὀλεφος Θέμου, ἀποθανόντος ἐτῶν βʹ. ἐν μηνὶ Πανένμῳ λʹ. ΘάρσιΘάρσει οὐδὶςοὐδείς ἀθάνατος.

Monument of Olefos, (son) of Themos, who died (at the age) of 2 years, on (the) 30th (day) of the month Panemos. Be of good cheer, no one (is) immortal.

ΜνημῖονΜνημεῖον Ὀλεφος Θέμου, ἀποθανόντος ἐτῶν βʹ ἐν μηνὶ Πανένμῳ λʹ ΘάρσιΘάρσει οὐδὶςοὐδείς ἀθάνατος.

The only dating information the text offers is the 30th day of the month Panemos, that is, July 19. Other factors have been used to arrive at probable date of the second half of the fourth century CE. The tombstone is one of about 700 discovered in Byzantine Zoora. The majority of the Greek tombstones from this location have been identified as Christian. The tombstone is rectangular, broken on its bottom sides and pointed and curved at its top. The inscribed surface is partially covered with salt crystals. The text is engraved and bears traces of red paint. A large outlined cross is inscribed above the text. A small cross with serifs is engraved to the right and left sides of the large cross. The author notes that the names recorded in the inscription appear elsewhere at Ghor es-Safi. The text contains spelling and grammatical errors.

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